Fantasy Study MaterialsIf you want to write in a genre, you have to read that genre. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. The books listed below will teach you about the genre and help you get a feel for all the different things you can do with it.
Intrusion/Urban Fantasy Study MaterialsIf you want to write in a genre, you have to read that genre. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. The books listed below will teach you about the genre and help you get a feel for all the different things you can do with it.
Writing ActionI am going to get right to the point and tell you the secret of writing action scenes: It’s not about the action. Like everything else in writing, it’s about character. A lot of people think reading action scenes is boring. And done poorly, it is. It’s not a movie. We can’t add camera angles and sound effects and a chaotic score that all drive the excitement; we have only words. But with those words—and clever choices of what words they are—we can do something that movie action scenes have a much harder time doing. We can illustrate character. Who...
Genre GuidesWe began work on the Genre Guides a few weeks ago. It’s tough work because these things are HUGE. But it’s rewarding work, too. Codifying information in a way that others can digest forces me to examine my own processes. Whenever I do this, those processes improve. Anything you do, even if you do it well and a lot, can experience drift. I think sometimes that the more common the activity is, the less you notice the drift. And you’re hardly motivated to examine things you’ve been doing successfully for years. But whenever I do, I find many ways to …
Editing ToolsEditing tools? Like… what does that even mean? Is there something more than my keyboard and an old copy of The Elements Of Style? Yes, dear reader, technology is amazing. While we hate content writing programs using A.I. (they’re taking our jobs!), there are a ton of intelligent software programs that can make your revision and error-checking process much faster. Some simply find typos or offer minor grammar suggestions, while others can do an in-depth read-through of your work. Try out a few, most of them have a free version. You might find something that saves you hundreds of hours...
Thriller Study MaterialsBack to Thriller Guide Remember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books. Online Resources Learn to write thrillers from David Baldacci or Dan Brown at Masterclass.com Read this Reedsy post on how to write a thriller. Go to this giant thriller writing conference. Books to Read If you want to write thrillers, you must read them. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice...
Simplicity“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.” Walt Whitman Way back when I was a poker player and coach, there was a thing I liked to point out to my students. “Poker is a simple game,” I said. “You want to put a lot of money in the pot when you’re winning, and put as little in the pot as possible when you’re not. And absent compelling reasons not to, that’s exactly what you should do.” I point this out, not because I think a ton of you are...
Advertising BasicsThere are a lot of different places to advertise, and we have articles about the specifics of many of them. However, platforms change, get updated, gain and lose pieces of functionality. If you understand the basic concepts in this Essential, then you will be able to adapt to whatever platform that suits your books the best. The important thing to remember is that everything works together. There are a lot of parts in an ad campaign, and if any one of them is subpar, the possibility of profit plummets. Profitability The main thing an ad has to be is profitable....
Thriller Story BuilderBack to Thriller Guide For this exercise, you should have a document open where you can write. Now copy the text in the box and paste it into that document. This will be the blueprint for your story. You’ll fill it in as you go through the exercise and end up with a basic outline for your thriller. You may want to post your story outline in the forums to get some ideas from other forum members. The Thriller Builder Our hero (her name here) must prevent (disaster here). They are in a hurry because (ticking clock here). The hero...
Thriller BlueprintBack to Thriller Guide Please note that there are a number of thrillers that don’t follow this blueprint exactly, and most don’t follow it perfectly. If your book will still be thrilling and interest readers without one of these pieces, or with some of them done differently or in a different order, feel free to do your own thing. This blueprint is just so that you can understand the basic format that your readers will expect from the genre. ACT 1 – The People And The Problems The Hook The hook can be anywhere from 200 to 2,000 words, and...
